SurgicalSteel wrote:The ACA is actually why my insurance is going up. I no longer get a discount for being healthy, and I'm required to have pediatric vision and dental coverage, even though I don't have any kids.

umm.ACA stands for Affordable Care Act?umm.

I can not believe That is what our representatives were aiming at.edit:Excuse me.This is a friendly Blow Off a Little Steam Thread.There is a Thread laying around somewhere that is dedicated to The ACA.

If we want to become enraged about things we can not change,We can meet in the ACA Thread, until the feeling blows over.

I left a Rant, because it's a rant.

Spoiler:

It seems there is Big Money in those insurance payments.Big Money has a loud and persuasive voice.

I do believe people have been asked,"Do you want to live? Sir?"

Yes. I am That Cynical about the US Public Health and Political Systems.

If our poor are ill. The Rich are at Risk.

Money can protect some. Money will not protect all.

"A sick servant will find its way in, Sir."

Life is, just, an exchange of electrons; It is up to us to give it meaning.

We are all in The Gutter.Some of us see The Gutter.Some of us see The Stars.by mr. Oscar Wilde.

Those that want to Know; Know.Those that do not Know; Don't tell them.They do terrible things to people that Tell Them.

month ago: police recover truck, with every single tool i own cleared out of the back.

3 days after that: moron in a minivan backs into me (on camera of course) rear ending my vehicle, in broad daylight. smashed the bed, and rear left taillight, but it appears ok.

the following day: driving to work, transmission fails and gears no longer work properly.

that night: after limping it to work in second gear only, i limp it home in second gear. burn out clutch.

(some time passes, parts are ordered, parts arrive, search through several scrapyards for obscure hard to find transmission)

last weekend: through much swearing, grunting, and shoving, transmission finally installed. clutch fixed, it appears to be smooth sailing. engine test..... engine won't run correctly. lopes along until it dies.

(cue much troubleshooting, and changing parts here and there)

Last night: after testing, and consulting my father, we have come to the conclusion my engines timing components are shot, and i need to tear apart most of the engine to get to them. I break the news to my GF that i will not be able to visit her this weekend, due to this problem. she has a sad.

Today: Unnamed accounting client of ours (we do IT support) has the corporate tax deadline on monday, so of COURSE, everything decides to break today. whiny, bitchy users who can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground chew me out, most of the problems being either user caused, or software bugs. ( i did NOT write the software)

It has come true 30 years Late.That is a condition where Never would have been better than Late.

It is a good Phrase to get into the Mouths and Computer Screens.When the US calls. "We are the UnWilling to go to War.""Besides, Look at our stupid Tanks. So twentieth century." "We are UnderEquiped for War."

"Therefore Europe is the UnWilling and the UnAble to go to War."

You know how those Europeans are.They have Got to be Doing Something.

Tons of them are Willing to do Peace.They are Equiped to do Peace.

Maybe if we called and asked for Help in Peace, After an apology, they might be Willing and Able to do Peace.

Peace is an engaging activity.It's a lot harder than it looks.EDIT:To be fair; The article cracks me up on some levels.

“If NATO isn’t outward looking, it’s got nothing to do,” he said. “It can’t go back to managing a threat from Russia, because it’s not a real threat.”

Darn. What shall NATO do?

A Full Frontal Attack on American Poverty and Ignorance!

"hey. hey." They will say."We want to Win."

Then everyone will look back to the Middle East for Peace. I think they might be looking in the Wrong Spot.

Life is, just, an exchange of electrons; It is up to us to give it meaning.

We are all in The Gutter.Some of us see The Gutter.Some of us see The Stars.by mr. Oscar Wilde.

Those that want to Know; Know.Those that do not Know; Don't tell them.They do terrible things to people that Tell Them.

What is irkng me about the Scotland independence vote is that whenever you hear a "yes" voter carry on about why they're voting yes, it is largely involving Westminster and in this regard they actually mean London. "Westminster has all the power" "Life is so much better in Westminster" etc and it almost implies that all of England is like that when it's clearly not. The north and West of England are being screwed all the time. Wales and Ireland's voice will diminish now because our one celtic ally with a strong voice; instead of wanting to stay, force change and actually create a better Britain has said, "Actually we can afford to be on our own so fuck you London!" Whilst not realising that they're also giving the finger to everywhere else that isn't London.

And it's making me bitter about the scots. I always considered Britain to be unified, it was crap and yes the rich stay rich but it's true for pretty much all places. Fight for that change for everywhere instead of just your country. I always thought we at least we had each others backs. Now our long term drinking buddy has found a wad of cash and is trying to leave.

(Yes not all of it makes sense but it's a rant that's been running round in my head and I needed it put somewhere.)

Even London isn't really an accurate characterisation. There are a few bits of central London which do fit the rich londoners stereotype, but a lot of that is more true of the home counties than London itself.

Sort of my point. The yes campaign has turned rich Tory types to mean all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. And now they're complaining that devo max was never really on the table but now it is because they might go independent. But from my view it was never there because it was never fought for as hard as the independence vote is being. Austerity and the tories suck, but they suck for almost everyone Scotland isn't an exception sadly but they seem to make out that they are. I don't know, I'd just rather see Scotland stay and fight for a more equal and devolved governance of the UK than leave the UK and then we all have to deal with different problems.

Goddamnit flash drive!My flash drive this morning (which I use for work) decided it is in "read only mode" at least, that's every error code gives me.

"Hm. Well let me eject it, plug it into another USB port, and see" -Error, write protected or in use, can not eject."Wait, what? Ok. I'll just unplug it, plug it back in then run a scandisk on it" -Error, write protected or in use, can not scan"Ok, well that sucks, let me check the tags in the registry, see if it's set for read only" -Nope"Virus perhaps?" -scan comes out perfectly clean"Alright...let me save the important stuff then format the drive" -Error, write protected or in use, can not format

So currently I'm running a low-level format through DOS (which is taking ages, it is still verifying the volume). If this does not fix it, then I might have to buy a new one, which is annoying, because I can't think what is wrong with this one! (happens on my laptop and work computer) Great waste of work time as well, because I'm being pretty non-productive as it's scanning.

Update: It's alive! Whatever was wrong with it got fixed with the low-level format through DOS. Who knows what was the actual problem...

Belial wrote:I am not even in the same country code as "the mood for this shit."

Actual panting. Already in the mid 90's. My bedroom faces the PM sun. Blinds, but no curtains or anything that really keeps out the light, and so greenhouse effect. No AC, just a tiny little personal fan. Weeks it's been like this. Weeks to come it will be like this. FML.

I'm still doing my nightly hikes. Not tackling that steep new trail I discovered last week though. Shame, wanted to reach the top of that before it got too late in the year to reach it before dark. (Not risking that goat trail in the dark alone).

Hm. Somewhat jealous. I've been freezing all today & yesterday due to it being in the mid-60s F outside (and into the 30s F at night), yet the AC is still running in my office.

Granted this is because of poor design - the controls are in the room that receives the most sunlight, as well as has very large windows, while I am in the back office which gets about an hour of sun each day just before it sets. So it warms up in my room about 45 minutes before I go home.

"Does this smell like chloroform to you?""Google tells me you are not unique. You are, however, wrong."nɒʜƚɒɿ_nɒɿɘ

eran_rathan wrote:Hm. Somewhat jealous. I've been freezing all today & yesterday due to it being in the mid-60s F outside (and into the 30s F at night), yet the AC is still running in my office.

Granted this is because of poor design - the controls are in the room that receives the most sunlight, as well as has very large windows, while I am in the back office which gets about an hour of sun each day just before it sets. So it warms up in my room about 45 minutes before I go home.

You, My Darling need a space heater.I attended a meeting one season that was Cold.

The room was too large to heat for the two hours or so we were there.I took an extension cord and electric heating pad.

I dialed in warm and sat on the pad.It was comfy, like heated car seats.EDIT:No heated car seats needed, today.It's Hot.

I know it is Hotter for you.It's not that hot, here.

It's still Hot in the sun.Don't go in the sun?

What I have to do is out there!

Frequent Breaks. To replace the Water lost to Steam. And; To bother the Internet People.EDIT:The Morning Rant.

The fucking deer are eating Deer Resitant Plants.Fuck.

Deer Resitant and Water Resitant may be similar.The deer seem So Hungry.

They are not always like this.Almost Tame.

What the Hell?Sented Geranium.What Deer eats That?

Chrysanthemum....Good Greif!(Without the internet....That word would be spelled, 'Differently'.)(Growing a batch of 'Differently'.)

It seems Myrtle, PepperWood, and Glass Flowers are the only Deer Proof Plants.I would not be willing to bet on the First Two.

I put a large old bird cage over the sweet peas to protect them.The fucking deer Removed It! (*sniff-sniff*) My Sweet Peas!! (WAAAA!)

I'm going to replant.I wonder. Do they like Sweet Peas enough to Climb Stairs?

If they climb stairs, they will have earned a meal of Sweet Peas. I have never known a deer to like stairs. Goats do. Deer don't.

things between my mom and i have been really strained lately? i feel like she's been more controlling (making me change clothes she thinks don't look right, restricting my food choices ((even if i buy my own food)), keeping me from socializing with friends, ect.) and it's starting to frustrate me. i talked to my therapist about this, and she told me to try and bring up the fact that i'm leaving home soon, how her nest-leaving/senior year was, and i did! but my mom shut down and wouldn't talk to me about it outside of nonspecific answers. i'm trying to make an effort in repairing our relationship, but we're constantly arguing about things, and it makes it feel like we're not making any progress.

example of something that happened the other day - i'll try to be as non-biased as possible @_@

i'm planning on buying my own xbox from a friend, so when i go to college i can still game and not worry about my siblings deleting save data and stuff. i was explaining this to my brother, and my mom interjected with "that's a stupid idea", and i tried to explain my reasoning for buying it to her. she said "i understand, but i still think it's stupid," so i apologized for bringing it up to her (which, in hindsight, was a terrible idea - i came off as "talking back"). she sent me to bed, and grounded me from seeing any friends for the time being - she hasn't given me a defined time period yet. she does this a lot, dismissing my opinions and telling me my actions are stupid and wrong. my friends have noticed this, so i'm pretty sure it's not just me.

anyway TL;DR - my mom and i are disagreeing on most everything and it's wearing me out

any tips or ideas to try and, i dunno, make this better?

addams wrote:Fucking Nature.

Tomlidich the second wrote:You cannot surgically graft enough middle fingers to my body to express how fed up I am with this.

From the description you just gave, that sounds like it might be abusive behavior. At least in relationships, common signs are trying to control behavior and isolate you from everyone else. It could be that it is not up to that magnitude, and things are different in parent/child relationships, but it might be useful to think about things in that light for a bit?

I had a very similar thing happen before I moved out of the house, things got very tense and strained, and remained that way for a few months after I left, but then cleared right up. I can't tell you what will help fix it now, because I couldnt' get that to work either, but I can tell you this: The best thing that happened to my relationship with my parents was to move out of the house.

They are now happy to see me when I visit, always grateful to get a call, and we (nearly) never fight about anything.

Hang in there.

Belial wrote:I am not even in the same country code as "the mood for this shit."

i'm planning on buying my own xbox from a friend, so when i go to college i can still game and not worry about my siblings deleting save data and stuff. i was explaining this to my brother, and my mom interjected with "that's a stupid idea", and i tried to explain my reasoning for buying it to her. she said "i understand, but i still think it's stupid," so i apologized for bringing it up to her (which, in hindsight, was a terrible idea - i came off as "talking back"). she sent me to bed, and grounded me from seeing any friends for the time being - she hasn't given me a defined time period yet. she does this a lot, dismissing my opinions and telling me my actions are stupid and wrong. my friends have noticed this, so i'm pretty sure it's not just me.

So as a note, you are not probably not a rich person. You are living on the largess of your parents (room, board, maybe college).

Your mother could be concerned about your bad spending habits. Despite being poor, you are spending money on junk food/expensive food, and buying a second xbox despite having access to one already (just so your "game progress" won't be overwritten by your siblings: "game progress" rarely is something of significant value).

You being ill-advised with your money could be stressing her out in few ways.

1) It is possible that you going to college and paying for your room and board is economically stressful for her. You spending money as if it is going out of style (many-100$ redundant game console, junk food) on ill-conceived things while she is supporting you could make her sacrifices seem unappreciated.

2) It is possible at this point, she has discovered she did not instill good money values into you, even if supporting your room & board & college is not an economic stressor. Perhaps she thinks you should be using your relative economic freedom (low costs) to save up for important things at your age (a down payment on a house, enough money to visit your family on your off-term, maybe a car, saving up for the period when you will need to pay rent), instead of toys and junk food. This may make her feel like a failure as a parent.

3) It is possible that she is in general full of angst about you leaving the house. This can amplify other sources of stress.

If you leave the house, and become self-supporting (paying your bills, not going into debt, saving for the future), even if you then spend money on relatively worthless (in her eyes) toys, you at least are first spending money on the important things. So the stress might go way down. Plus, even if you are throwing away your money, she won't be intimately aware of how you are doing it, also making the stress go way down.

An approach you can take is to start prioritizing savings and other "grown up" things over junk food and games. Or even save up for fun things like travel.

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision - BR

@bluebambue - i'll bring that up to my therapist and see if my mom and i can have like, a joint therapy meeting. i need someone to mediate to keep either of us from getting mean.

@freezeblade - i'm really hoping that once i'm out of the house, things will be less stressful. it doesn't help that my grandmother just moved in, increasing our house size to 9 people (in a 3 1/2 bedroom house, no less), so i understand some of the strain she might be feeling. i just don't want her to take it out on me thanks, though.

@Yakk - these things are true (not the college bit, though - i'm on my own for that once i head). my spending at this moment, however meager it is, is generally for things that i've wanted for a while but haven't been able to afford (a wacom tablet, various instruments, my own xbox, ect.) that i know that i won't be able to buy once i have to be self sufficient. i generally pay for my own food, to keep the cost down for my parents (feeding 5 other kids is expensive. i don't want them to have to worry about me in that regard.) yet i understand where you're coming from - it might seem like i'm spending frivolously. (also, in my defense, the other xbox we have is considered the "family console", so i wouldn't be able to take it with me.) i think i just need to communicate my reasoning to her and try and get some consensus as to what she's feeling about all of this - provided she is willing to talk to me.

@speising - my parents generally consider any questioning of motives (whether it be responsibly worded or not) disrespect. if i ask what my mom means by "stupid" i have a feeling i'll just get in more trouble D:

addams wrote:Fucking Nature.

Tomlidich the second wrote:You cannot surgically graft enough middle fingers to my body to express how fed up I am with this.

but while i was doing this, the ye oldy vacuum system got a few lines taken loose and i don't know where they go (i had planned to keep them in but they slipped)

figured oh, what the hell, go to google, get a diagram, fix it. 2 weeks of searching later, not a diagram in sight anywhere. posted in the yotatech forums, and of course they just gave me 1980 and newer pickup diagrams for a completely different motor, which is not helpful.

it seems noone has this stupid diagram, even though these trucks are running about all over the damn place. I heard a rumor my uncle owned one, hand drawn but he is impossible to reach for months at a time.

I swear, by all that is holy, when i do find this damn thing i will proliferate it across the internet so noone has to go through this.

oh and to top it off the engine won't start and i don't know why. electrical issue i think. time to break out the digital multimeter and an oscilloscope.

AND i have this mystery line sitting on the engine that apparently was never plugged into anything, but its creating a vacuum leak at the moment. no idea what it does, either. thats prolly ALSO on the diagram i dont have.